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TIBISCUS UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS
MASTER'S DEGREE STUDIES
FIELD: ECONOMIC SCIENCES
BUSINESS STRATEGY IN THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT

Ecommerce

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SCIENTIFIC COORDINATOR:
PROF. UNIV. DR. ADRIAN COJOCARIU

MASTERAND:
BENYÿ ALEXANDRA

TIMISOARA

2013

content

Introduction................................................. .................................................. ........................ 3

CHAPTER 1 1. E- 4
business and E-Commerce Overview ..................................... ...................... 4

1.1. Definitions and concepts ............................................... .................................................. . 4

1.2. Types of E-Commerce ............................................. ................................................ 5
1.2.1. Business-to-consumer.B2C ........................................... ................................. 6
1.2.2. Business-to-business e-commerce. B2B. 7

CHAPTER 2 9

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2. E-commerce platforms ............................................ .................................................. . 9

2.1. The main free e-commerce platforms ........................................... ............ 9

2.2. E-business application requirements ............................................. .................................. 11

CHAPTER 3 12
3. E-commerce on the Romanian market ............................................ ....................................... 12

3.1. Internet banking ................................................ .................................................. ..... 12

3.2. 3D Secure System ............................................... .................................................. 12
3.3. 3D Secure trading statistics ............................................ ...... 12
3.4. B2B Marketplace Portal ............................................... ........................................ 13

conclusions 14

Bibliography 15

INTRODUCTION

This paper aims to analyze the concepts of E-business and E-Commerce. During the paper will
be presented the informational-managerial trends adopted by organizations, the adoption of the strategy
of dematerialization and disintermediation of information. Information outsourcing methods. We will
discuss issues related to the requirements for E-Business applications.

Also, the main e-commerce platforms will be presented, available to any user who wants, is a
beginner or performers in e-commerce, either from the perspective of the customer, the consumer or the
position of the owner of a digital business.
When we talk about e-commerce, we are talking, in fact, about a real phenomenon that is one of
the most decisive changes that occur in the contemporary economy and enterprise, with multiple and
intense economic and social consequences. According to the European Union project, FAIR (Farecast
and Assessment of the Social Economic and Policy Impact of Advanced Communications and
Recommendation), e-commerce can be defined as the sum of commercial transactions based on the
electronic transmission of information through communications networks, such as the Internet.

We will start by defining the two concepts and then we will discuss pure and partially electronic e-
commerce. The different types of trade will be nominated and presented
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e - commerce as a whole and we will focus on the Business - to - Business (B2B) model, where we
will point out the main advantages of this type of e - commerce, oriented towards business partners.

For everything to go well in an organization, so that the needs for the proper functioning of all
departments can be identified in the most detailed and secure way, with the exact aim of homogeneity
and well-structured construction of the interdependence relations of all departments and sectors. , at
organizational and interpersonal level, the managerial function of communication must be analyzed.

Bill Gates, the owner of Mircrosoft, said that in the future, business will be of two kinds: on the
Internet or not at all. Philip Kotler, a professor of international marketing at Northwestern University's
Kellogg School of Management, who has provided advice to companies such as IBM, Bank of America
and General Electric, strengthens Bill Gates' claim and belief by supporting and demonstrating the
importance of the Internet and the speed of The presence on the Internet also ensures that businesses
have a global reach, so that the products presented are customers
marketedworldwide.
to a market
, market
of overimpossible
400 millionto
reach through a traditional store.

Thus, in Romania, we are witnessing an explosion of websites and the number of visitors in the
online environment. A study shows that 65% of our country's consumers spend more than 1.5 hours
a day on the Internet, 24% do their shopping on Google.
The online environment needs platforms where we can shop or sell our products. Nowadays
they come in different forms, bringing with them increasingly sophisticated functions. During the
paper, we will present a list of the 10 free platforms for the business we want to develop.

CHAPTER 1

E-BUSINESS AND E-COMMERCE OVERVIEW

1. Definitions and concepts

Electronic commerce, with the acronym CE or E-Commerce describes the process of buying,
selling, transferring or exchanging products, services or information via computer networks, including
the Internet.
In order to emphasize the extremely important role of the Internet in the assertion and
development of the field, it is significant to mention the definition of electronic commerce (EC) adopted
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: “business conducted on networks
using based on open standards, such as the Internet. "

The advantages of Internet targeting compared to using proprietary interconnection solutions

are:
• platform independence
• low cost of connection and use
• the possibility of broadcast communication

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• ensuring an appropriate level of interaction.

If we consider E-Business as a process, we could say that it is the process of combining the
resources of traditional information systems with Internet access and connecting important business
systems directly with its protagonists: customers, employees, partners and suppliers through the Intranet.
extranets or the Internet.
E - Business is a broader concept, in addition to buying and selling goods and services, it also refers
to customer service, collaboration with business partners and the conduct of electronic transactions within
an organization. However, the terms will be used in the literature alternately, due to the proximity of the
meaning.
E-business is the fusion of business-related processes, enterprise applications, and the organizational
structure needed to create a high-performance business model. For this purpose, digital technologies are
used to transform both the internal processes and the interactions of the organization with third parties.

E-commerce brings the novelty compared to the classic economic transactions from the perspective
of the following dimensions:
1. Transforming the commercial “space”.
2. Manifesting e-commerce as a catalyst for economic change.
3. Developing interactivity between companies.
4. The relative diminution of the importance of time.
5. Conceptual, communication and technical opening of companies.
By default, any improvement brought about by technological development entails a number
of advantages. The main benefits of e-commerce can be summarized as follows:
1. Amplification of economic transactions
2. Increasing the speed of commercial operations
3. Intensifying the interaction between companies, as well as between them and consumers
4. Reducing manufacturing and marketing costs
5. Easier access to remote markets
6. Generating new business opportunities
7. Increasing consumer satisfaction
E-Business sums up the art of using digital technologies to improve and expand the company's
business. The strongest motivation for introducing this plus of technology through digitization is given by
the main target objectives:
1. Providing new and superior customer service
2. Increase productivity
3. Increase profit

2. Types of E-Commerce

E-Commerce can be done between different parties. Six common types of

e-commerce:
1. Business-to-consumer, (B2C) in B2C - sellers are organizations, and buyers are
individuals
2. Business-to-business (B2B) in B2B transactions - both sellers and buyers are
business organizations, and the vast majority of e-commerce is of this type.

3. Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) in C2C - an individual sells products or services to

others. Here the terms are interchangeable, and the major strategies for conducting
C2C on the Internet are auctions and classified ads.

In dozens of countries, C2C sales and buying on auction sites are exploding. Most auctions are
conducted by intermediaries, such as eBay (www.ebay.com).
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Consumers can select general sites, such as www.auctionanything.com. In addition, many people
run their own auctions.
The electronic store reproduces in a virtual space the functions of the classic store, with
advantages, but also requirements or limitations easily intuited. For the store owner, launching such
a business is much faster and requires much less investment than the classic version.

Internet-based ads have a big advantage over traditional ad types: they offer an international
audience, rather than a local audience. This wider audience is growing, both in terms of the supply of
goods and services and the number of potential buyers.

4. Business-to-employee (B2E) - the organization uses internal e-commerce to

provide information and services to its employees. Companies allow employees
to manage their benefits and take e-learning courses. In addition, employees can
purchase discounted insurance, accommodations, and tickets to corporate intranet
events. They can also order consumables and materials in electronic format.
Finally, many companies have corporate electronics stores that sell the company's
products to their employees, usually at a discount.

5. E-Government - is represented by the use of Internet technology, in general, and

E-commerce, in particular, to provide information and public services to:

• citizens, called G2C EC (Governement-to-citizens)

• business partners and suppliers
This is an effective way to conduct business transactions with citizens and
businesses, as well as within self-governments. Governance is intended to be an
online implementation model that makes government more efficient and effective,
especially in the provision of public services.
6. Mobile commerce (M-Commerce) - is e-commerce that takes place entirely in a
wireless environment. The most concrete example is the use of mobile phones for
Internet shopping.
Each of the types of e-commerce, mentioned above, is done in business models, the business
model is the method by which a company generates revenue to support itself.

1. Business -to -consumer

B2C

Business-to-consumer, B2C e-commerce is focused on providing products and services to

individual consumers. The representative sample for the goods and services offered by this type of
B2C trade is presented in the following table:
Nr.crt. Products Services
1. Offers for holidays
2. Audio / Video Air transport tickets
3. Books Clothing, Footwear Hotel booking
4. Home and garden items Car Hire
5. Computers, software and telecommunications Ticket reservations for shows
Sporting goods, games Giving gifts
6 7. Gifts, cosmetics Home delivery services

8. Food, drinks Games, lottery

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From the consumer's point of view, the main advantages are:

1. Permanent access, 24 hours / 7 days a week.
2. Possibility to analyze a large number of offers.
3. Convenience of shopping, mainly time saving.
4. Easy and attractive working interface.
In addition to the advantages presented and brought by e-commerce, the Business-to-consumer model there
are also inconveniences, apart from the technical aspects related to the quality of Internet access, a study
funded by CCE highlighted the following sources of dissatisfaction for a customer of this type of commerce. :

1. There are considerable differences in how a site works

another

2. Supplier identification information is incomplete.

3. Essential aspects, such as those relating to contractual clauses and ensuring
the security of the transaction, are insufficiently detailed.
4. No alternative (off-line) methods for making payments are indicated.
5. Facilities for encrypting sensitive information are underused.
6. Price information, and mainly information on additional costs, is incomplete and
difficult to locate.
B2C e-commerce is much more complex than B2B e-commerce, while B2B e-commerce is much larger
in volume than the first type. Business-to-Consumer involves a large number of buyers who make millions of
transactions a day, with a relatively small number of sellers. For example, Amazon, an online retailer called an
e-tailer that offers thousands of products to its customers, has to handle every transaction, even if the purchase
is relatively small most of the time, as if the customer had was one of the most important. Every order must be
processed quickly and efficiently, and the products must be delivered in a timely and real time. Moreover, the
return of products must also be managed.

2. Business-to-Business e-commerce
B2B

Business-to-business (B2B) commerce is the model of e-commerce, the orientation towards business
partners. The solutions of this type of commerce are oriented on the electronic data interchange, EDI destined
to the electronic transfer of structured data using predefined formats of messages and associated dictionaries.

The use of the Internet has revolutionized this way of trading, both by standardizing interconnection
solutions, and especially by reducing costs and, implicitly, democratizing the access of small and medium
enterprises to the use of these services.
The benefits of this type of e-commerce aimed at business partners are perceived as beneficial for both
customers and suppliers. The relationships between the two partners, players involved in the business
communication process are much more complex, being oriented in the long run, generally on a contractual basis
and targeting large products and high value transactions. These transactions activate the supply chains of the
two partners, involving several participants. Due to the importance of product availability in relation to the
production and sales requirements of the customer, it will maintain several sources of supply at the same time.

From a customer perspective, B2B e-commerce brings transparency and control first and foremost.

Customer benefits

The main advantages brought to the client through the B2B model
1. Consolidation by computerization of the company policy in the field of supply.
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2. Reducing administrative costs, up to 90%, by increasing efficiency

works, asynchronous communication with suppliers.
3. Transparency of the availability of goods with the consequence of preventing orders
double or unnecessary stocks.
4. Transparency of the procurement process through its online conduct.
5. Easy establishment of customer consortia to benefit from price reductions.
6. Rigorous monitoring of the supplier's activity through access to information
relevant.
7. Easy access to recycled equipment recycling markets and maximizing the selling price.

8. Possibility of integrating the entire procurement flow by connecting systems

customer - supplier IT.
9. Diversification of e-business relations on trade infrastructure
electronic.
10. Elimination of supply redundancies due to the rigorous follow-up of a
orders.
11. Clearer highlighting of the type of procurement according to the support provided by
e-commerce:

Advantages of suppliers

1. Consolidation of market position, aggregation.

2. Focus on large orders by facilitating relationships with distributors and intermediaries in
the electronic market.
3. Reducing customer identification costs.
4. Attracting orders by facilitating access to information of interest to
customers.

5. Reducing the cost of transactions by placing orders online and

reducing errors in solving them.
6. Maintaining anonymity of suppliers, especially in the case of overstock sales,
as a protection measure against price reduction.
7. Increasing the requirements for marketing activity.

Adaptation of promotion methods

Effective evaluation of results
Continuous updating of the offer

8. Creating the premises for strengthening the collaboration with customers, in the activities
of product life cycle management, production planning and scheduling, service and after-
sales assistance.
9. Obtaining better prices, increasing the number of potential customers, in terms of
increasing the visibility of offers.

There are several business models for B2B applications. The most important are sell-side
marketplaces, buy-side marketplaces and electronic exchanges.
A. Sell-Side Marketplaces
In the sell-side marketplaces model, organizations try to sell their products or services to other
organizations in electronic format on their private e-marketplace website and / or from a third party
website. This model is similar to the B2C model in which the buyer is expected to come to the seller's
site, view catalogs, and place an order. In B2B sell-side marketplaces, the buyer is an organization.

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The key mechanisms in the Sell-Side Marketplaces model are the electronic catalogs that can
be customized for each buyer and auction.
B. Buy-Side Marketplaces
The Buy-Side Marketplaces is a model in which organizations try to buy the necessary
products or services from other organizations, electronically. An important method of purchasing
goods and services, in the buy-side model, is the reverse auction.
The Buy-Side model uses e-commerce technology to streamline the buying process. The
purpose is to reduce the cost of the products purchased, as well as the administrative costs involved
in purchasing them. Purchasing through the use of electronic media is referred to as Public E-
Procurement. They use reverse purchases, especially when buying in groups, several buyers
combine their orders so that they constitute a large volume and therefore attract the attention of the
seller more. In addition, when buyers place their combined orders on a reverse auction, they can
negotiate a volume discount.

C. Electronic exchanges
Private exchanges have a single buyer and several sellers. E-markets, in which there are
several buyers, are called public exchanges or just exchanges. Public exchanges are open to all
business organizations. They are owned and operated by a third party. Public B2B exchanges are
often the starting point for contacts between business partners.

CHAPTER 2

E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS

2.1. The main free E-Commerce platforms

The online environment needs platforms where we can shop or sell our products. Nowadays
they come in different forms, bringing with them more and more sophisticated functions. In the
following we will take a look at 10 free platforms that would suit the business we are developing.
This digital business focuses on the integration of all the component processes of the so-called
"value chain" on a computer medium, which ensures the profitability of the respective enterprise.
These processes concern both internal activities and the interdependencies of the company with its
evolution environment.
The value chain segments are:
• Generation
• Insertion
• Content transmission
• Platforms •
Peripherals
The 10 free e-commerce platforms are:
1. osCommerce (http://www.oscommerce.com/)
It has attracted a fairly large community of users, if we take into account the dynamics of the
Internet and the developers who come with modules designed to improve the interaction between
customers and managers of virtual stores. Over 5,800 additional modules are available.
It is considered a benchmark among free eCommerce platforms. However, in the end changing
themes and format is not always an easy task, other platforms make this operation a simple and
enjoyable job.
2. Magento (http://www.magentocommerce.com/).
According to the information that we can easily access, there are approximately 30,000 virtual
stores that use this platform to manage transactions whose total value exceeds 25 billion dollars.
It is a platform that developed very quickly. It was built on the basis of an open source model, and the structure was
adopted by traders such as Samsung, Nespresso and The North Face. The choice was chosen in two variants.
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Enterprise Edition and Community Edition. The first version comes with a complete suite of applications
and tools designed to streamline product promotion, tools such as shopping vouchers, bonus points,
small group of users, clubs. The second version is available for free, but comes without any support or
warranty from the manufacturer, which makes it especially accessible to those experts in programming
and online e-commerce platforms.
3. Zen Cart (http://www.zen-cart.com/)
It's free and intuitive, and easy to use. In addition to the classic tools we expect to offer, ZenCart
has a newsletter manager, discount coupons, quantity discounts, gift vouchers and the ability to select
your desired payment method. There is a community of programmers contributing to the development
of this platform, but there are many compatible elements available through the osCommerce community.

4. Digistore (http://www.digistorecommerce.com/)
This platform is based on the osCommerce system, so the elements it integrates will be easily
recognized by those familiar with managing an e-commerce platform. It is a CMS (Content Management
System) easy and fast to install and is accessible to those who do not have programming knowledge.
There is a wide range of templates to choose from. Templates can be modified by accepting changes
that you think will be relevant to your products. Through the administration interface you can manage
the ads and how they interact with the site.

5. WordPresseCommerce (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp
ecommerce /)
Although it is a plugin for WordPress it does its job very well. It is 100% optimizable.
Requires programming knowledge, supports the HTML and CSS code provided by the client, is
compatible with other WordPress plugins. It offers integration services with most of the payment
methods currently available on the E-commerce market.
The marketing strategy can be easily managed through the elements that the platform offers.
There is the possibility to use flexible rules for setting customer-based discounts, as well as quantity-
based discount options. Search engine optimized URLs. Integration with social networks has never
been easier.
Thus, a series of buttons allow the user to share information or product from our site to the personal
page on the social network. By managing email addresses, you can start marketing campaigns based
on this method of spreading information.

In terms of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) provides meta-information for products and
categories, RSS feeds for products and categories, easily integrates with Google indexing services and
the WordPress All in One SEO plugin that includes Google Analytics. The additional modules offer the
possibility of bringing a degree of interactivity that the client is looking for virtually, providing the user
with modules that allow the playback of audio or video content, the establishment of photo galleries or
sections such as Members Only.
6. RokQuickCart (http://www.rockettheme.com/extensions-joomla/rokquickcart
It's a way to get quick access to an e-commerce platform and an e-content management platform
like Joomla! It offers the ability to use PayPal and Google Checkqout, but for advanced features it is
useful to use larger platforms.
7. Cubecart (http://www.cubecart.com/)
It comes with a suite of templates from which there is a diversified sorting option, the presentation
being done in a professional manner. There are a lot of additional applications that can be added to the
basic version. But for a business at the beginning of the road, it is a solution worth considering.

8. AF Commerce (http://www.afcommerce.com/)
It is the platform solution for maintaining a pleasant and airy interface. She is not very good-
looking, but she manages to achieve her goal. For beginners, in terms of programming and online
commerce, this platform makes things much easier.
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One of the special features is that a customer registration method does not have to be set by default,
and this can be done once the orders have been placed.

9. Zeuscart (http://www.zeuscart.com/)
The best thing about this platform is its rich, attractive interface, easy to use and much more
interesting than the competition. It is designed to fit small and medium businesses, users have the ability
to quickly optimize their site from an SEO point of view, they can implement a system based on gift
points, discounts depending on the size of orders, etc.

10. Ubercart (http://www.ubercart.org/)

It is designed for people who want to market ideas and information, it is practically intended for all
those who want to offer files for download, to sell tickets for various events or anything else that better
explains its structure as a virtual goal.
It can be integrated with Joomla !, and by choosing the appropriate themes and tools, the site can be
arranged according to the taste and personal preferences of each user.

2.2. E-Business application requirements

An e-business system connects business components with customers, employees, suppliers and
distributors, increasing efficiency and reducing costs. E-business applications must meet the following
requirements:
1. Standards-based to ensure application portability across multiple client or server
platforms and to improve flexibility and time to market.

2. Development around a server to enable applications to be developed and deployed

quickly, extending access to a wider range of customer types, and to provide improved
management and expansion capabilities for modern e-business applications.

3. Scalable to enable applications to meet the fast, variable, and unpredictable demands of
today's Web environment.
4. Availability to the requirements of the web environment that requires running applications
24 hours / day, 7 days / week, with guaranteed quality of service
5. Security by providing secure interactions with customers, suppliers and other participants
in the exchange of information, given the insecure nature of the Internet network.

6. Easy to develop and implement to reduce costs and time to market, both of which are
key success factors for any business.
7. Easy to manage to reduce maintenance costs and contribute to a
addressability as high as possible.
8. Availability to modify and expand existing assets to reduce time to market and reduce
development and implementation costs, while improving security, reliability and scalability.

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CHAPTER 3

E-Commerce on the Romanian market

1. Internet Banking

Internet banking or cyberbanking involves conducting various banking activities from

home, in a place of business or on the road, instead of a physical bank. Electronic banking
has capabilities from paying bills to applying for a loan.
It saves time for customers and is convenient. For banks allows to attract customers
from a distance. In addition to the regular banks with added online services, we see the
emergence of virtual banks, which are dedicated exclusively to Internet transactions.
The international banking system and the ability to handle multi-currency transactions
are critical to international trade. Electronic funds transfers and electronic letters of credit
are important services in the international banking sector.

2. 3D Secure system

The 3D Secure system is the anti-fraud system developed by Visa and MasterCard.
Using this system allows you to increase the security of online transactions by requesting a
password for each online payment. In case of loss or theft, the card enrolled in 3D Secure
cannot be used by third parties for online shopping. This eliminates the risk of fraud by
copying payment information or randomly generating card numbers and their subsequent
use on the Internet. By using this trading system, a reduction in fraud from online transactions
is expected to be reduced by at least 80%.
The operation of the 3D Secure service involves the joint effort of the card issuing
banks of the banks with which the owners of the virtual stores have concluded payment
acceptance contracts of the cards, of the respective merchants and of the international card
organizations. As more and more online stores and their banks and card issuers join this
service, the confidence of all parties involved in Internet transactions and, consequently,
their volume increases, while reducing the risk of fraud.
The cardholder can only shop for sites that display the Verified by Visa or Mastercard
SecureCode logos. In these virtual stores, the user is required to log in to each transaction,
thus maintaining control over online shopping. The authentication process does not require
the installation of any special application on the customer's computer, nor does it make it
difficult to browse the Internet and increase the confidence in this way of buying goods /
services.

3. 3D Secure trading statistics

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Statistics at the end of 2012 show that E-commerce on the Romanian market has registered
the following results on online trading through the 3D Secure system:
1. 218 million Euros traded by card in the 3D Secure system, registering a substantial increase
compared to 2011, when 157 million Euros were collected

2. The average value of an online transaction has reached the quota of 60 euros for payments made
directly in foreign currency and 45 euros for payments in lei
3. 781 online stores that accept payment by card in 3D Secure system
4. 410,000 active 3D Secure cards
5. 11,300,000 cards enrolled in 3D Secure
6. On average 330,000 monthly transactions in the 3D Secure system
7. 1 million internet users are online shoppers
8. Internet penetration rate: about 43%
9. 3500 existing online stores in the market
10. The average age of buyers is between 25 and 34 years
11. 54.8% of buyers are men and 45.2% are women
12. The average salary of online shoppers is between 1,400 and 1,800 lei
13. 83.5% of online shoppers live in urban areas
14. TotalRetail's e-commerce share accounted for 1.3%
15. EUR 600 million total e-tail (excluding tourism, services, utilities, etc.)
16. EUR 750 million total e-tail (forecast for 2013)
17. 90% payments on delivery in e-tail, except for services, tourism where the segment of
Card payment is above average
18. 33% average growth over the last 3 years in 3D Secure card payments

3.4. B2B Marketplace Portal

Marketplace is a B2B e-business portal solution developed by SAPMarkets, in collaboration with

CommerceOne, a company specializing in B2B e-commerce. In his view, SAP's chances of a successful e-
market on the Internet are assured by the existence of an "ecosystem" that currently brings together over
900 partners, as well as the experience gained over time on enterprise integrated IT solutions.

The solution combines e-procurement services and collaborative work, made available to user
communities linked through business relationships, in order to accelerate supply-supply chains, reduce
product development time, improve customer relations, increase productivity.

Architecturally, the Marketplace includes two main components:

• MarketSet: the actual electronic market solution with the objective of adapting supply chains - linear,
serial supply to the specifics of collaborative work.

• EnterpriseBuyer: a set of solutions for dynamic procurement and supply chain management.

When developing the solution, the factors on which the credibility of the Internet network as a business environment depends
were taken into account:
• Transaction security, permanent availability of the system
• Integrated the Web component into the entire IT system
• Connectivity of Internet components with partners' computer systems
The mySAP E-commerce solution is based on modern technological support and ensures the
management of the specific roles of the commercial activity at the enterprise level, from the agencies
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specialize in purchasing from workers who occasionally purchase goods.

conclusions

Traditionally, information was organically associated, including physically, with the

elements it referred to: raw materials, materials, equipment, buildings, parts, products. On the
other hand, there is a growing tendency to dematerialize information. This process of
dematerialization of information consists in separating a large part of the information, which
refers to concrete components of the company and the processes within them, from the physical
support and their presentation through aggregate symbols in rigorously structured, self-
circulating sets of information. stand out, reaching users, often independently of those products and service
The Internet and the Intranet are two of the most well-known information approaches that,
at the same time, are sources and expressions of the dematerialization of information. The
Internet allows companies to have access to a huge volume and variety of exogenous
information, which makes unnecessary or much less important direct contact with equipment,
raw materials, products, people who are long distances, sometimes in the thousands of
kilometers. . Similarly, but referring mainly to the elements and processes endogenous to the
organization, the Intranet is also manifested.
Dematerialization and disintermediation of information are components of the evolution
towards the knowledge-based economy. They mark steps forward in increasing the applicability
of information, in the acquisition by a large part of them of the state of knowledge, in the
meaning they have in the context of the new economy or the knowledge-based economy.
Dematerialization of information is a major expression of the dematerialization of the economy,
a major way of manifesting the knowledge-based economy.

The Internet has become the main source of information for the buying public. More and
more people are choosing to shop online, making the Internet a powerful selling tool. With
millions of users using the Internet to search for products and services, entrepreneurs and any
organization can enter new E-markets at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods.
The sites are virtual showcases that are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Any digital business promoted through the Internet, the Internet or the Extranet is
characterized by greater visibility, thus creating more opportunities to attract customers at
relatively low costs. It has never been easier for a business beginner to reach such a large
mass of potential customers without having to make costly investments in infrastructure or
avoid overwhelming marketing costs.
In business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce, buyers and sellers are business organizations.
B2B accounts for about 85% of e-commerce.
It covers a wide range of applications that allow an enterprise to form electronic relationships
with its distributors, resellers, suppliers, customers and other partners. Organizations can use
B2B to restructure their supply chains and partner relationships.
Seller uses e-commerce to increase sales, reduce sales and advertising costs, increase
delivery speed, and reduce costs
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administrative.
E-commerce technology can shorten the duration of the buying cycle. Public procurement, called e-
procurement, includes the purchase of goods and materials, as well as procurement, negotiation with suppliers,
payment for goods, online transactions, and making delivery arrangements.

The main trends from the informational-managerial point of view concern the shaping of the virtual
enterprise, the dematerialization and disintermediation of information, the crystallization of information
management, the expansion of electronic commerce, the proliferation of Internet-based communication systems,
as well as outsourcing, information outsourcing.

BLIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Nicolescu, O. (2001). Management Information System of the Organization, Bucharest Publishing House
2. Gheorghe, A. Gogescu, A. Duminicÿ, I. (2012) Online Stores: Marketing
Strategies and Techniques during the Crisis, Revista de Marketing Online
3. Rohner, K. (1999). Cyber-marketing, Ed. All
4. Zota, R. (2009). Integrated E-business systems. Course support, ASE Bucharest
5. E-Commerce, http://www.gpec.ro/

Ad-hoc: a large number of potential suppliers

Repetitive: traditional suppliers
Strategic: sole supplier

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